The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-10
A Reformatorv School Needed.


A Reformatory School Needed.
vigorous effort will be made during the
present session of the Legislature to secure
the enactment of law establishing State
reformatory school There are two bills
which provide for such a school, and if
neither of them is found to be wholly salts
factory they will doubtless form the basis
for one that will be satisfactory. AS the
} authors of both of them aim to accomplish
about the same thing it is not probable that
either will insist upon his bill to the extent
Of endangering the passage of any other
measure of the same character One Of
the pending bills provides that all women,
girls, boys under Is years of age,
! imbeciles and discrept convicts now in the
camps, or who may be sentenced to the pen
, itentiary in the future shall be inmates of
the school. The other bill provides that the
same classes of cOnviCts shall be sent to the
school, but does not admit TO it any of the
convicts who have been sent TO the camps
1t is probable that the lessees will oppose
any bill that deprives them of convicts who
are valuable as laborers, and as they are
not without influence it will require vigor-
Gus effort to get the Legislature TO agree to
any bill The chief objection that will be
urged against the school is the expense
of maintaining it., and that objec-
ton will have a great deal OF
weight with very large percentage
of the members. Experience has shown
| that measures of real merit stand very little
chance of favorable consideration if they
! promise to increase in the least the rate of
taxation. While it is right that extrava-
gance should be discouraged, there are
things that should be done even if they i'm
| pose little heavier burden upon the people.
Without going into the merits of the CON
vict system, it will not be denied that it is
wrong from every point of view to huddle
| together in the camps men and women, and
to expose boys and girls.to the influence of
hardened and degraded criminals.
! The associations in the camps
must necessarily be bad, and
| it is about impossible for youthful convicts
who may not be thoroughly bad to remain
in the camps for any length of time without
sinking to lower depths Of degradation and
| immortality. These young convicts when
released not only return to their evil prac-
tees, but become active agents in corrupt
| ing others. The question which every leg
islator ought to ask himself is this Has the
State, for economical or any other
reasons, the right TO pursue a policy that
makes it impossible for youth
who has been guilty of one
| serious offense to ever become
an honest man and a law-abiding citizens
The State has no such right, and yet its
convict system is based upon the assumption
that it has
But is.there anything saved by making
youthful convicts confirmed criminals! Does
whom they corrupt, within the bounds of
the law than it would to maintain a school
for their reformations
The convict system will doubtless be pref
ty thoroughly discussed at the present ses-
sion. There is not much probability that
another system will be substituted for it,
unpopular as it is, because of the difficulty
of deciding upon another THAT promises to
give better satisfaction, but if the system is
not abandoned it ought at least to be modi-
fled to the extent of making some provision
for reforming youthful convicts. The Gov
| ernor had something to say on this subject
at the regular session, and it may be that
he will present it again at this session. He
is as well informed probably as any man in
the State of the evils of the present way of
dealing with the youthful convicts, and he
should not hesitate 90 use his influence in
| favor of reform.